Issue XX August 2020

experiences at unt jazz by Roger Villines

Before moving to Pensacola in 2003, Kat and I lived in One of the highlights of attending the UNT Jazz program is Denton, Texas, home of the University of North Texas (UNT), playing in one of the Lab Bands, or large jazz ensembles. The where I completed possibly the longest master’s degree term Lab Band came from the historic experimental nature program in histo-ry – six years – leading to a Master of Music of often playing student arrangements/compositions and Degree majoring in Jazz Studies. exploring new frontiers of jazz. Bands were named by the In 1964, when I was in high school jazz band in Altus, hour they met: one o’clock thru eight o’clock (the last 2 Oklahoma, UNT, which was then North Texas State College, actually met earlier using a second room). The upper level was my dream college to attend. I auditioned and visited the bands met in the Kenton Hall Monday thru Thursday. All the campus, listening with awe to a concert that featured all of bands were very good to excellent. The top one o’clock and their Lab Bands (that’s what they called their large jazz/ two o’clock bands were highest level professional quality. Placings, band and part/chair (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), were by put on hold. audition each semester. The jazz staff would deliberate our stage Thirty bands). some Mostly years for later, financial the dream reasons, reappeared. that dream I could was audition performances and assign placings in the various afford it. I had an opening in my schedule. And they bands. The results, typed on 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper, approved my admissions application. There I was – an over would then be posted in the foyer of Kenton Hall for all to 50-year-old, re-tired U.S. Air Force aviator (25 years) with a see. Hundreds of students would mass around the bulletin rather old Music Education Degree, some old band directing board to see what their fate would be for the upcoming experience, some musical talent and experience, and a 30- semester. I remember being happy and sometimes sad at my year old Conn Constellation trumpet that I had resurrected placing. I was mostly in a solo position (4th or 5th trumpet and was working to sound better on. So enter I did – to a part), which I liked, in bands ranging from 6 to 3 o’clock. musical world full of young, highly talented musicians from I was often disappointed to not make the one or two o’clock bands. It was considered the UNT badge of honor And why did it take me six years to graduate? Well, for and ultimate sign of success. I worked and tried hard and oneall over thing, the earning World. Boy,a masters did I fit degree in. in jazz studies at UNT gave it my best – and never made it. Once, I felt really good going into the auditions – this could be the year, I told at the un-dergraduate level. That means you either show up myself. I looked at the placing sheets and found my name as forrequires your provenmasters proficiency program as or a requisite professional course jazz completions performer 4th trumpet in the 4 o’clock lab band. Not only that, but one listed on a Downbeat Jazz Poll, or you have earned a suitable of the trumpet soloists in the one o’clock was a freshman. It undergraduate degree in jazz, or you have to take most of turns out, he was really good. Welcome to the competitive those UNT undergraduate courses in progressive order – world of jazz. you can’t just skip from Improv 1 to Improv 4. The latter Staying in the upper two bands could also be a challenge. option was my road to the mountain top. But hey, I had some time, and it was a fun journey. participation. I remember a young trumpeter who made the UNT Jazz Studies was like a musical meritocracy. Neither They were very unforgiving of any lapses in proficiency of students or faculty cared about your non-musical experiences or credentials. Your previous rank in the U.S. Air Force or newone o’clockguy was and in placein the the first next week day. announced to Neil Slater your leadership and management experience or your age or that Once he whenhad a Iconflict was in withthe 6 one o’clock of the band scheduled the lead concerts. trumpeter A lots of other things made little day-to-day difference. It was from the one o’clock substitut-ed as lead with our band. The all about your last jazz solo or arrangement or other school rule was, if you can’t be at a rehearsal, you must arrange a performance in a very competitive environment. Neil Slater, substi-tute. No exceptions were allowed. Your honor was at then head of Jazz Studies, conferred with me well in-to my stake. Anyway, he was sight reading, so you might expect an program, that getting in was one thing, getting out with a occasional small error. None were made. He played perfect. degree was quite another. Dan Haerle, a renowned pianist I was im-pressed. and one of my instructors, told his class something like: one of our jobs here is to help you in making your career choice I remember, and learned a les-son, about what it is like to play I did in suba top in levelthe 2 ensemble.o’clock a couple The slightest of times. imperfection The first time – hold a note a little longer than the others, crack an attack, in the field of jazz. In other words, maybe it’s not really the “Experiences” Continued... best for fit you. 1 “Experiences” Continued... not perfectly in tune in a unison section – made you stand and it is repeated in the next phrase. We have already left autumn and are in the cold winds of winter. Mercer’s version your best skills and atten-tion to the task at hand. When has only the chorus without the beginning portion. In the greatout like players a shark do fin this at – the great beach. music You happens. are motivated to bring French original, there is no mention of “autumn leaves” in The Lab Band music library was huge and diverse. Lots of the chorus. original charts from famous big bands. willed The story goes that Mercer wrote the lyrics in a his library to UNT, and we played quite a few Stan Kenton hurry. Michal Goldsen, director of Capitol’s music publishing charts. Always copies, never originals, which were of course department was nearing the deadline before his four-month quite valuable. Kenton charts were fun and exciting to play. option on the song ran out. He pressured Mercer to write Characterized by BIG sound. BIG climactic parts with VERY some lyrics in English. Mercer wrote them in ten minutes LOUD brass with VERY HIGH lead trumpet parts. And by while waiting for Goldsen to give him a ride to the train the way, the 8 UNT jazz bands were all set at Kenton size: station. Mercer understood no French and had only a basic 5 saxes, 5 trombones (with 2 bass trombones), 5 trumpets (solos split between 4th and 5th players), plus piano, guitar, tears. The song earned Mercer the most of any music for bass and drums. whichidea of he the had story. written Yet his lyrics. words made Goldsen’s eyes fill with I remember playing Bill Holman’s Malagueña in a 3 O’clock Lab Band concert at a high school in Dallas. Very exciting! song to catch on in the US. Then in 1955, Roger Williams’ So there you have it. I did graduate (that’s what DG really recording Jo Staffordhit a million recorded sales it andfirst. the It tooksong astayed while foron the means), and we moved to Pensacola, mostly because of the charts for 6 months. Later recordings by Stan Getz, Bill beach, but also attracted by the musical and jazz scene in Evans and Chet Baker helped the song become a jazz classic. our beautiful area. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the 6 years experience at UNT Jazz. And, for those inter-ested, I plan to write more Book Review: Jazz Beats Encore: More about some other UNT experiences. Next up: improv classes notes on classic Jazz by Lew Shaw and play-ing in UNT jazz combos. by F. Norman Vickers Autumn Leaves by Carolyn Tokson The jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” as we know it in English is a very different song from the French original. The Hungarian composer, Joseph Korma, met the lyricist Jacques Prévert in Paris. As with so many other lovely melodies, Korma borrowed some of the melody from a by Jules Massenet’s “Poeme d’octobre”. Together Korma and PrévertRoland Petit wrote ballet “Les pasFeuilles de deux Mortes” which or “Thehad been Dead influenced Leaves” in version seems to point only to a short summer romance and The Book Cover for Jazz Beats Encore: More Notes on Classic Jazz, a1945 separation for “Les of Portes the lovers. de la The Nuit”, original a 1946 French film. The is the American story of by Lew Shaw. two lovers who seem to have had a much longer relationship and who lived together. “But the life separates those who Lew Shaw is a multi-faceted writer, having a dual career as love, too quietly, without making a noise,” the lyrics go. It is both sports and jazz writer who lives in Scottsdale, AZ. Our a song that says the singer has not forgotten those days of paths crossed when we were both active in The American love in the sun and remembers them as the leaves lie dead. Federation of Jazz Societies and both had served as president It is a sad song full of remembrance and regrets. There is of that organization. He was an organizer and served as a long 24 bars before one comes to the chorus we know president of Arizona Classic Jazz Society in Phoenix. here...a mere 18 bars of music. And there is a second verse Shaw has written for jazz publications, West Coast Rag, The American Rag, and for the past few years, The Syncopated and slowly move into singing it. The audiences there start in French. Often French singers speak some of the first part a collection of his columns from West Coast Rag and The AmericanTimes. His Rag. first book, His current Jazz Beat, book, Notes Jazz of Beat Classic Encore, Jazz wasis a incheering the English at the version first words. written by Johnny Mercer, they are not collection of forty-three columns from the past few years. at all at Whilethe forefront the words of the“autumn original leaves” French figure version. prominently After 8 Each column features a jazz musician, or group, along bars, we hear “The dead leaves gather on top of the shovel” with a photograph and occupies about four pages. Most of “Jazz Beats” Continued... 2 “Jazz Beats” Continued... the artists are American born but also feature clarinetist- arranged for a telephone interview with Mr. Kole. bandleader Adrian Cunningham of Australia and pianist That lasted only about 6 months until the station went Paolo Alderighi, a native of Milan, Italy. to all-talk format. But during that time, I brought in Frank Of special interest to will be featured artists who have Horne, Charles J. Cetti, drummer and father of trumpeter appeared for the Jazz Society of Pensacola events: guitarist Charles L. Cetti, Harold Andrews and others. And, as the Howard Alden, saxophonist Harry Allen, trombonist Dan saying goes, the rest is history….. Barrett, clarinetist Evan Christopher, trumpeter Duke Heitger, vocalist Rebecca Kilgore, clarinetist Tim Laughlin, What’s Jazzing Around Town? The Midiri Brothers, and clarinetists Ken Peplowski and by Carolyn Tokson Allan Vache. Also, as a bonus, cartoonist Bill Keane’s Family Circus cartoons related to jazz were included courtesy of Jeff images of autumn. Residents are still heading to the beach Fall in Northwest Florida does not at all fit the classic Keane, son of the late cartoonist. and complaining of the heat. Another month has passed This book, as well as Shaw’s previous one, will grace the with the concerns about the coronavirus even more in the shelves of our Jazz Room at the downtown West Florida forefront than during our spring lock-down. Constrictions Public Library. It awaits your reading. The book, of course, to our normal patterns of life still chafe. Major festivals is available at Amazon and other booksellers. have been cancelled. We are still without our normal jazz Jams and Gumbos. However, Fred Domulot scheduled a Pianist Ronnie Kole Dies live-streaming event on our Jazz Pensacola Facebook page by F. Norman Vickers for September 10. We are grateful to Artel Gallery for a free place to hold the virtual event. Winners of the Student Competition performed. Saxophonist Joe Occhipinti was inducted into the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival Hall of Fame and the Pensacola News Journal ran a story about the modest

pointed out by Dr. Norman Vickers who was interviewed, musician who has a way of deflecting fame onto others. As the jazz society since its inception. He keeps big band music aliveJoe has and always is a major been contributoran active and to importantthe jazz scene influence here in Northwest Florida and in Mobile where he is very involved in MOJO, the Mystic Order of the Jazz Obsessed. Joe is still at Calvert’s in East Pensacola Hgts. on Tuesdays. Dr. Vickers Ronnie Kole arranged to have the PNJ article made into posters and New Orleans jazz pianist Ronnie Kole dies at age 89. Native framed. One will go to Joe and the other will hang in the Jazz Pensacolians report that Kole, a Chicago native, appeared on Room at West Florida Public Library on Spring St. Thanks to Lynn Toney’s show on WEAR during the early years. Toney, Sparks members who donated to cover the costs. I am told, had a kiddie’s show in the afternoons where he Pianist Al Martin’s book in collaboration with Dr. Sandra Winborne is selling well. Among the many recent honors Al Further, when Kole left the show, he was followed by Larry received was a special celebration of his music by the mayor Butlerwould and dress his in sister. a leopard’s outfit and entertain the kids. in a program at the Gordon Center. Al keeps showing up at At any rate, Kole moved to New Orleans and, when he The District on Saturday nights. wasn’t traveling, had his own place on Bourbon Street. James “Burt” Kimberl is appearing at the Magnolia Grill in Later, he married a woman from Slidell, moved there into, Ft. Walton on Thursday and Saturdays from 5 till 9:30PM. essentially, semi-retirement. There would be occasional Jim Andrews is often outside at The Cactus Flower on news reports of events in Slidell or elsewhere when Kole Thursdays. would play. Roman Street had a live performance with a limited During the late 1980s, when WCOA was transitioning audience in Pensacola recently. They also streamed it live. from a general to an all-talk format, the manager asked The group won this year’s Best Musician in the Nappie the Jazz Society if they wanted to be on an early Saturday Awards by Lagniappe Weekly. morning show which featured no paid advertising. Bryan Our neighboring jazz society, the Gulf Jazz Society in Newkirk was the announcer who talk about free stuff such Panama City, has also had no live performances recently. as doggie-bathe-ins. I would come in with some jazz LPs They do have tee shirts (Design by Ricky Steele) left from and play them. Ronnie Kole’s and has a great rendition of last year’s festival and are offering those for sale. This year’s Amazing Grace as we’d use that for a theme-song. Once, we festival is scheduled for October 3 and 4; they are hoping “Jazzing” Continued...

3 Upcoming Events the high register trumpet improvs Diz pulled off . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Hv-CIWgQE TBD Pensacola JazzFest - Penultimate Piano

clusters are rarely: Don heard--most Pullen, reflecting non-commercial not only Gershwin piano playersbut history wish of they jazz could in Evidence do a fraction of Things of Pullen’s Unseen--his artistry: fist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocQ00yd7NL8 “Jazzing” Continued... to be able to move forward by then. Check their website at Thanks to Paul for his recommendations. . Our best wishes to Lynn Parker who is recovering from his Gino Rosaria’s single “Sunday 3PM” featuring saxophonist recent health challenges. I called Barbara Oliver just to check www.gulfjazzsociety.org Elan Trotman hit the airwaves on Monday, August 31. It is on her and Lew and said she and Sue Parker had just been playing on all jazz stations and also on XM satellite radio. discussing how they missed our jazz events. Vocalist Vivian It’s from Gino’s album “Still Waters Run Deep” available on Lamont is recuperating at her daughter, Laroyce’s, home. Amazon. Vocalist and guitarist Art Carnrick and his wife, Maureen, suffered considerable damage to his home and music studio of his “well” days recently and his wife seems on the road to Jazz flautist, Chip Shelton, who has often played here in NY during the August storms when a tree fell into the recoverywere both also. ill with Sincere COVID-19. condolences Art just go experienced to Dick Pace the on first the house. However, the good news is that his CD “Plan Be Dream death of his wife, Jane. The Paces have been members of Jazz Music” was rising in air-play on radio stations for 7 weeks Pensacola since 1991. straight. We can expect a new CD “Mentors” in November. Hoping you all exercise due caution and stay well in this Chip’s brother Ron Shelton is a long term member of the society and volunteers with us here locally. You can connect to Chip’s blog at https://chipshelton.bandcamp.com and to difficult time. one of his latest projects at http://chipshelton.bandcamp. Donations are welcome . The challenges of COVID-19 are indeed real to a 501(c)(3) Especially since the recent spike in the virus, Jazz Pensacola organization such as Jazz Pensacola. Many of the major non- memberscom/track/plan-be-by-the-flute-party-band are listening to music at home or on the road. When they are out and about in the car, Knox and Holly Parker are as the virus rages. Naturally, we as a small jazz society are in listening to the blues on Sirius channel 74. Michael McCartan theprofits same are situation having to as scale the Metropolitanback events and Opera close and their the doors New says he enjoys Melody Gardot on YouTube at https://www. York Philharmonic Symphony, only we do not have the large youtube.com/watch?v=_XDL1jvHFsc. When I checked the endowment funds that they possess. If you have the means, link, I was thrilled with her music, especially the link above think of making a donation to assist us as we navigate this uncertain time. Our board is being as thrifty as possible but Here’s a list of music with links that you might enjoy. They werewhich sent has tothe me influence by pianist of Northand vocalist African Paul sounds. Stewart. Credit electric bill, the insurance. Remember, all donations are tax- for the clever comments attached all goes to him. deductible.there is still You the may office send rent, a check the administrator’s to Jazz Pensacola, salary, 3 West the Garden St. Suite 418, Pensacola, FL 32502 or you may call “You asked for tunes to hear during Covid ‘Carcera tion . . . well, I could likely wear out my welcome appreciate your generosity. with links but here’s a few--starting with most the office at 433-8382 and make a donation by phone. We “accessible”? then, segueing through a singer vocalizing on “musicians’ music”; then going to the avant-garde . . . the latter not bed-time music! From a Proust Questionnaire with Kareem Adbul-Jabbar - Big Band Boppin’: Thad Jones, Mel Lewis on from Vanity Fair of September 2020 catchy dancing tune entitled Ahunk, Ahunk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKQlZl6N11g Question: “What is your favorite journey?” Answer: “ The question suggests a spiritual journey or even - Singer Superlative: Roberta Gambarine, on an old an exotic trip, but I get both of those when I go to a jazz standard, On the Sunny Side of the Street, in which she performance. It not only delights my senses but it connects scats the tune’s actual solos of legendary sax player, me to my ethnic culture in a deeply satisfying way.” Sonny Stitt; then, Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet solo on same song. Please wear your seat belt as she does

4 www.jazzpensacola.com